Happiness for the Holidays? Try an Experiment

By Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP

 

The holidays, officially a time of good cheer, have become instead a byword for stress, overeating, running up bills, and enduring one’s relatives. This falls in line with the last two posts on happiness and our dubious relationship to it. It’s hard to find to define a greater goal in life than lasting happiness, yet modern psychology, with its notions about happiness being incidental and unpredictable, discourages us form believing in lasting happiness.

Dead bird with flies

What’s the solution? Let me suggest returning to a simple but profound idea that has endured in every spiritual tradition. Unhappiness means that you are not being yourself. When you are being yourself, happiness is permanent because the “true self” is by nature at peace, blissful, and undisturbed by the ups and downs of daily life. (more…)

Health Tip? Coffee: Is it a miracle drug?

Contributed by Sanjiv Chopra, MD, MACP and Frank J. Domino, M.D.

cup_of_coffee_184110

Is there a commonly consumed beverage that decreases the risk of developing a number of common cancers?

Americans consume 400 million cups of this beverage.  Worldwide more than 2.25 cups are consumed daily.

If you guessed the beverage is Coffee you are absolutely right! (more…)

The Future of Happiness – Up or Down?

The Future of Happiness – Up or Down?

By Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP

03-relaxationIt’s unsettling that so little is known about what it takes to be happy, and a lot of what we do know is contradictory. On the one hand, most people report that they are happy when asked by pollsters – up to 80% in most developed countries. On the other hand, psychological studies and various reports don’t share such a bright picture. The following things make happiness a problem:

(more…)

Big Idea 2014: You Will Transform Your Own Biology

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers pick one big idea that will shape 2014. See all the ideas here.

By Deepak Chopra, MD and  Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D.

To date, one of biology’s greatest achievements, mapping the human genome, is only just beginning to translate into medical advances. But in 2014 there will likely be more headlines about another type of study in genetics that is already impacting everyone. (more…)